


A Deeper, Deepest Blue

by Schmuzz



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Adventure, Creature Fic, Dubious Consent, Hypnotism, Monster sex, Myan Week 2017, Naga, Other, Sex Pollen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-17
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2018-12-03 11:24:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11531223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Schmuzz/pseuds/Schmuzz
Summary: Michael Jones has made a comfortable life for himself as an independent treasure hunter. As he explores an abandoned cave that is rumored to house riches of a recently abandoned village, Michael resigns himself to a boring day spent hiking through the tunnels, until he spots something out of the ordinary. Something big. Something with scales. Something that’s moving towards him…





	A Deeper, Deepest Blue

**Author's Note:**

> I finally wrote something with hypnosis! And also a sex pollen-esque scenario in the form of monster venom. This is definitely a fic with dubcon/romanticized noncon. No parties are harmed physically or mentally from the events of this story.
> 
> This was done for 'Adventure au' day of Myan Week 2017!

When any prying agents, aspiring grave robbers, or archaeologists saw through Michael’s disguise and worked out that he was actually not a scholar or tourist or halpless lackey of some sort, but instead an experienced treasure hunter, they tended to make some tired joke about being Indiana Jones - it was an admittedly easy potshot to make, considering his surname. It was either that, or try to kill him or torture him into revealing the proverbial ‘x’ marked on some treasure map. But whether the other party saw his chosen career as a charming fact or a threat, most of them weren’t in the business of finding treasure themselves, and they sorely overestimated the excitement that such a position brought him.

They imagined him climbing up mountains, finding some secret, mythical mark - the fountain of youth, a species living in the center of the earth, or some goblet that was used by Jesus and King Arthur. His adventures were accomplished in a week at most, and he had to shoot and seduce anyone that got in his way. At home he was lying on a mountain of gold, shelves lined with remnants of his adventures.

Well - he may have rediscovered a few things forgotten by the sands of time, though nothing as interesting as what others imagined, and he had on occasion received a nice commission from a museum or a wealthy curator who wanted some bits of pottery or the coordinates of a forgotten king’s tomb. He certainly didn’t have to worry about the electric bill. And yet, the thing that nearly everyone overlooked was how dreadfully boring most of his searches were, and how many of them led to dead ends.

Take today’s outing, for example. Michael never liked to call a proper search before he investigated its claims a bit, but even he had a feeling that the hunt he was on right now was going to be at worst a bust, and at best - totally uninteresting.

The cave had originally been carved out by the river, until early settlers had dammed up the path and caused the channel to move adjacent to the wide mouth of the fissure. Michael could still see a wet sheen on the dark rock walls when he shined his light towards them, and he heard the gentle trickling of water all around him as walked down the narrowing passageway. 

The cave had fallen out of use when the nearby villages were vacated by a mix of poor farming conditions and warlords trying to intimidate the locals. However, recent intel that fell into Gavin’s hands informed him that the cave had once been used as a place to store valuable treasure: gold and other precious metals, possibly as a means of paying respects to a local deity or recently deceased. Gavin had passed the message along and Michael was curious to see if the rumors were true before anyone else made the attempt.

So far as he could tell the cave never branched, or at least no more than small, pocket-sized dips in the rock wall here and there. His comms to Gavin had crackled and died half a mile back, and he shoved the earpiece into his pocket and marched forward. Judging by the size of the river, Michael decided that he had maybe another two miles to scout before he would have to admit defeat and head out.  

But so far – nothing. Nothing but his own boring thoughts at least, some of which had given way to a slight paranoia at the persistent blackness that surrounded the small scope of his flashlight. He wasn’t scared, per say, but he’d been spelunking and diving and creeping around forgotten places long enough to know that if and when something appeared from dark, it was rarely a nice and pleasant event.

He had also been through the motions enough to be able to force those creeping thoughts into the back of his mind, and he soldiered on some more minutes without any surprises.

Until -

Until his light reflected off something shiny – this time not water. Moving past the initial shock of seeing an abrupt change in his environment, he tried to make out what it was. It wasn’t water… it was something else. Mostly black with streaks of blue and red. Large. It didn’t move. From his position, it looked like a thick haul of chainmail or something – could it be the ancient remains of a soldier? Michael had no problem robbing graves, personally, and, heart pounding excitedly in his chest, he slowly moved his light up the object, watching more of it become revealed to him as he drew closer.

His light lit up a bare, fleshy human torso and he nearly dropped his flashlight, mind frantically working the pieces together. He fumbled with it before managing to switch it off, plunging himself into complete darkness.

What he saw some twenty feet in front of him wasn’t chainmail, or a dead soldier. It was a… a snake. A big one. And a human male. Connected together.

He remembered the lore surrounding this part of the country – a snake and human hybrid, a religious symbol. It was called a naga, he believed – it didn’t hurt to know some quick facts about the place you were about to explore. Usually to understand texts and puzzle out some obscure references, mind you. He never thought that the local god was actually a mythical beast that fucking existed!

Okay, okay, the cave was clearly a bust. Fine. Whatever. Michael liked treasure, but he liked keeping his sanity and not getting potentially eaten by a freaky snake thing even more. He’ll just take his leave – carefully, quietly – and tell Gavin the place was a giant dead end. Let this be someone else’s problem. Preferably with someone more than a mere hunting knife strapped to his leg.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, he took several large steps back. Then another. And another.

Only to slip on a slick area of smooth rock and fall on his ass, scraping up his arms and trying to frantically muffle a curse he instinctively let out. He heard his flashlight roll somewhere to his right.

Then he heard something else. A quiet hiss, then the sounds of a big  _ something _ , slithering in the darkness. He could imagine that monster waking up. Uncurling itself.

Coming towards him _. _

Michael quickly turned around so he was on his hands and knees. No point in trying to pretend he wasn’t there. He was more than happy to sprint back the way he had come, but he needed his flashlight, otherwise he’d be tripping the whole way, which could result in a sprain or a broken bone or even worse. He blanched at all the stalagmites he had passed by on his way down.

He started to blindly scrabble for the flashlight, palms and fingers smashing against the wet stone floor with an increasing franticness. “Come on, come on,  _ fuck, _ ” he muttered to himself. He imagined a snake-human monster could scent the air or hear his heartbeat through vibrations in the ground, or something. No point in being quiet now. “Shit shit shit, where is it?” His hand closed around a cylinder and Michael yanked at it – only to rip his hand away when his brain told him that whatever he had grabbed was too smooth and covered in scales to be his flashlight.

Just over the top of his head, he heard a  _ click! _

Michael was frozen, head resolutely pointed towards the path that led to the mouth of the cave, to the outside world. Just out of the corner of his eye, he saw what he had thought was his flashlight for one hopeful second. It was the tip of a snake’s tail, slowly undulating away from view. The light stayed focused on the back of his head.

“Is this yours?” a deep voice asked. Michael bit back a scream, letting a low whine emerge from somewhere deep inside of him. His knife was still in the holster on his thigh; if he moved fast enough, he could get a surprise attack in and make a run for it before the monster retaliated. Nodding to himself, he reached for the blade’s hilt and rolled onto his back, thrusting the knife up into the snake part of the creature, drawing blood and a cry of pain from it. Michael abandoned the knife to swipe the flashlight out of the monster’s human hand, turning around and starting a dead sprint away from the thing – only to trip over a section of tail he hadn’t noticed before. He was spared a painful fall by a hand on his elbow, hauling him sideways.

Michael was harshly pushed up against the cold wall of the cave, a hand at his throat and a pissed off snake monster crowding his space. The flashlight was dropped again, leaving just enough illumination around him to stare his captor in the eye while he struggled.

He sputtered, kicking his legs to try and support himself so he could get some air into his lungs. The creature’s face remained apathetic to his struggles, watching him gasp and squirm with a cool detachment in its blue eyes, which seemed to glow in the dim light of the cave. For some reason, Michael’s own gaze were anchored to them, even as he clawed at the beast’s hand and kicked the wall. They were bright, almost cerulean, like the scales running along the side of his body. Despite the non-human, vertical slits operating as the creature’s pupils, they were still incredibly alluring. Michael frowned, shaking his head when the dots clouding his vision obstructed the view of the creature’s eyes.

“Had enough?” the thing taunted.

“Wh…” Michael couldn’t even choke out the rest of the word. The naga’s eyes roved over him, Michael following his gaze dizzily. He must have hit his head harder than he thought, eyes naturally seeking something bright to focus on. 

Another moment passed. Then, apparently with some sort of approval in what it saw, the snake lowered his body to the ground, letting Michael lean against the cave wall to support himself.

Funny, he didn’t remember going limp in the monster’s hold, and yet he had. He coughed, rubbing at his neck. He also didn’t remember when his pulse had slowed down – he was pretty sure high-risk situations went hand in hand with insanely high pulse rates, but he felt totally relaxed. He swallowed.

“Now,” the naga said, “state your business here. I haven’t seen a human in months.”

“Uh…” Michael zoned out for a moment, watching the emotions flicker across the naga’s face. “I was just, um, passing through.”

“Really,” the naga asked, dully. “Passing through a three mile long cave with only one entrance?”

“Yep,” Michael said quickly.

The naga slithered even closer to Michael, if that was possible. “I don’t believe you.”

“Well, it’s the truth.” He felt a churning in his stomach as he lied – as if he ever had a problem lying before! Something was going on; Michael shook his head again, but the strange haze that had fallen over him didn’t vanish. And his head definitely didn’t hurt. It couldn’t have been a head injury. This was the snake’s doing. Something about his features. Michael tried to recall something important about nagas - they had some magical powers, but  _ what? _

“Look at me,” the snake commanded. Michael looked resolutely at the floor. He couldn’t look back at the monster – there was something –  _ hypnotic  _ about the thing. “You know you’re dying to see,” it taunted, hissing out some of the words it spoke, sending chills along Michael’s arms.

A tense moment of silence, passed between them. Michael could hear his own breathing – much slower than it should have been – and the distant sound of water. Eventually, he also heard the naga before him sigh. It placed a hand on Michael’s cheek, skin cooler than his own flushed face. He pressed his teeth together, sucking a breath of air into his nose.

“Fine,” the naga murmured, maybe to himself. “If you’re going to be difficult…” Michael saw the naga shift in the corner of his vision, and tried to look even further off to the side at the dark cavern beyond, eyes straining with the effort. The thing was right - he  _ did  _ want to look back. There was something about those eyes that… that made him… He frowned, eyes watering as he kept them away from the creature’s.

But despite his resolution to ignore the thing’s face, he couldn’t help his gaze flicker over when he felt cool lips take his in a kiss.

That one lapse in his resolve was all it took. The naga’s eyes were still wide open, staring into his own as their lips met. Michael was paralyzed, tracing the faint silhouette of his own terrified face in the pools of blue. He barely even registered the feeling of fangs sink into his bottom lip, of heat blooming at those pinpricks of contact, of his vision fading.

The last thing he saw before he went under were those blue, blue eyes.

 

-

 

Michael slowly roused himself, feeling hazy headed and hot, despite air drifting along his bare skin. He let out a moan, shifting on what felt like dried grass.  _ What happened to him? _ As he tried to fit the pieces together, he felt refreshingly cold fingers brush his cheek.

“Wake up, Michael,” a familiar voice soothed. The fingers strayed to his mouth, where they brushed along his swollen bottom lip. His eyes flickered open, mouth overly sensitive and slack against the other’s hand. As soon as he saw the naga’s eyes his missing memory slotted back into place. He weakly scrambled into a standing position, scattering grass as he backed away. “Now, Michael,” the snake chastised, large body slithering forward, “that’s no way to behave, is it?” Michael abruptly stilled, eyes roving along the naga’s form. He caught sight of his own bare legs and cast a look down at himself.

“W-Where are my clothes?” he managed.

“Figured you wouldn’t need them for the moment, took them away.” That shouldn’t have sent a pulse of heat through Michael’s stomach, but it did. “Found a card in your pocket though. Michael  _ is  _ your real name, I assume? I don’t know much about human paperwork, as you can imagine.” 

“It is,” Michael answered dumbly. 

“Good, good. Hm.” The creature gave him a glance. “It may be advantageous for you to know that my name is Ryan, if only because we’ll be spending some time together.” Michael decidedly did not like the sound of that, but the creature was already moving ahead: “Now then,  _ Michael _ ,” Michael bit his sore lip when the other murmured his name, looking back up at the other’s face before he could help himself, “I think it’s time you were honest with me. What are you doing here?”

He swallowed. “I - I, um. I… I hunt for treasure,” he managed to say. “My informant told me there would be valuables hidden here.” He didn’t  _ want  _ to come out and admit that he was essentially invading the creature’s home, possibly to steal his personal hoard of valuables. A strain of commentary that resembled his common sense told him that wasn’t a very smart idea, but something was wrong. He felt... buried, the real him cocooned and kept safe in the back of his mind, and whatever remained was eager,  _ so so  _ eager to do whatever the creature asked of him. 

“Ah,” the naga said, the note of understanding undermined by the fact that the creature hardly looked surprised. “That is a shame, Michael.” Ryan reached out, cupping Michael’s cheek once more. He nuzzled into the touch without a thought. In fact, he couldn’t seem to pull together an idea for more than a few seconds. Anything in his brain that tried to anchor itself into his thought process just… floated away. It was relaxing, tranquil. He blinked drowsily up at his strange captor. “From what I’ve observed, the people that occupied the area around this cave have been forced out. Quite a few adventurers have pillaged what they could, and some have even wandered into this cave, seeking out goods that have been stashed here.” Michael squinted. “I see you have a question. Go on,”

It took Michael some seconds of concentrated effort before he could force his mouth to move. “W-Wh. Um. What did you do to them?” 

The naga grinned, sharp fangs showing again. “I squeezed them with my lower half until they stopped breathing, and picked their bones clean.” 

Michael knew he was far too gone when all he could do in response was tiredly jerk in the other’s grip, eyes widening when he felt the naga’s tail slowly curl around his legs, up to his waist. The way the tail undulated as its muscles twitched - a breathing tube that could crush him at any moment - was nightmarish; and yet Michael could only let out a small whine in response. 

“Are you scared?” The monster’s eyes flashed. “You should be quite frightened by now.” Michael was, in fact, terrified out of his wits, but his brain and body were too sluggish to do much about it. He flinched slightly when the naga’s other hand came up, gently cradling the other side of his face. “All my other victims didn’t wake up after that little bite I gave them,” A finger ran across his lips again. “ _ If _ they were lucky enough to die a painless death at all.”

“P-Poison?” 

“No, I am not a venomous snake, lucky for you. Do you feel any pain?” Michael shook his head slightly. “And you’ll be happy to know that all of the visitors of late have kept me quite full, so I’m not inclined to eat you, either.”

“Then let me go,” He tried to say it like a demand, but his voice wavered. The naga let out a little laugh, eyes sparkling.

“Let you go, in your condition? You couldn’t even make it outside.” Michael must have made a confused face. “Oh, surely you feel it - your mind’s a bit empty, isn’t it? Body’s so weak you can’t fight back, and…” Michael felt the tail flex around him, not tightening so much as - giving him a playful squeeze. “You’re so hot.” 

_ Hot _ ? The naga’s touch against his own felt… distressingly pleasant, cool flesh against his own, and his mind was - gone, yes, that was a good word. He didn’t even want to try to struggle against the trail that had coiled around him, but he wasn’t completely out of options _ ,  _ was he? He could… do something, say something, think of a plan. He just had to try, that was all. If he forced himself enough, he could -

The coils that surrounded his thighs and hips enclosed around him further. He gasped, not because it  _ hurt  _ exactly, but because it made his dick pulse. 

Wait. His -

“You’re hard already, aren’t you?” the monster purred in his ear. 

“What - I,” Michael wriggled, but the shifting only made Ryan’s tail encircle him tighter, until the pressure became painful. “P-Please, stop,” he whined, frantic and confused.

Just like that, Ryan’s tail loosened around him. He stretched his legs gratefully. A moment later, Ryan was tipping his head up, examining him further.

“You look so cute, all confused and helpless,” Ryan said, blue eyes gleaming. “I think I’ll have some fun with you.” Michael nearly choked. He hated to admit it, even to himself, but the creature’s face and voice - and that fucking venom, not to mention those  _ eyes  _ \- they were doing things to him that made Ryan’s roughly spoken words sound enjoyable.

Ryan drifted away from Michael, settling on his back on the pile of dried grass. The largest part of his tail curled up and under him, pillowing his head and upper chest so he was gently reclining, eyes still trained on his newest captive. Casting a look around, he realized that the place was illuminated with several ancient looking oil lamps, producing a warm, low light. It was quite possible that they were presented to the naga, and this creature, or its ancestors, had been honored as the protectors of the area. But instead of trying to guess where a stronghold of monster treasure might be housed, his mind’s focus was dragged back to the creature that was intently watching him. 

He was still overly hot, a feeling which he was now able to recognize as arousal, brought on by the venom and the hypnotic powers the naga possessed. He felt a strange pull that forced his body forward, stepping closer to the snake’s reclining body until his toes brushed its smooth scales.

Ryan extended a hand to a small collection of jars beside his head, at the edge of his ‘bed’. “Get one of those,” he commanded, and again Michael followed along, not even contemplating if he should, or if he could resist it. Before he had even realized what the naga said, he was uncorking a glass bottle of what seemed to be olive oil, or some similar counterpart. “Now come here,” And Ryan’s hands reached out, square on his hips. He was arranged so he was standing, ass towards the creature, feet planted on either side of his tail. With the way Ryan was propped up he was nearly in the thing’s lap, or what would have been his lap if he were human. Michael bit his lip again, holding desperately onto the bottle of oil.

“What a captivating view,” Ryan crooned from behind him. The naga’s thumbs rubbed light circles into the flesh of his lower back. “Have you ever taken a cock before, Michael?"

The words made his shoulders bunch up. “Yes,” he said without pause, only to blush after his admittance - and Ryan’s smug little laugh right afterwards.

“Of course you have. Well then - why don’t you stretch yourself open for me? Despite your rude behavior when we first met, I’m willing to go… relatively easy on you.”

Michael carefully poured some oil onto the palm of his right hand, letting it drip along his first two fingers. He held his breath as he slid them inside himself. There was the usual twitch of discomfort, too dull to label painful but definitely not great. He shivered at the appreciative hum the naga made behind him, reflexively shoving his fingers in further. “More,” the voice carried on, prompting Michael to scissor the two digits inside of him, before carefully slipping a third inside. The hands on his hips clenched tighter as he did so. Michael bent his right shoulder down further as his hand moved, the new angle prompting him to look down.

There, between his legs, he saw a patch of scales that seemed to have given away to a phallus, shiny, a bit pointed at the tip, and as black as the scales that surrounded the slit hiding it from view until now. And it was big, drooling a milky looking substance as it curved up towards the apex of his thighs.

It should have been too strange, should have made him freak out and break out of the lustful haze he found himself in. Instead a moan ripped from his throat, knees buckling slightly as his three fingers hungrily shoved further into his stretched hole. 

“Mm, how pretty,” Ryan groaned behind him, his hands leaving Michael’s hips to spread his cheeks open, getting a better look at what he was doing to himself. “I think you’re ready, Michael. You can’t deny that you want it, anyways.” Michael’s fingers slowly withdrew from himself, the hand still holding the oil dropping limply on the other side. Ryan plucked the bottle from his grip - from between his legs, Michael saw the creature slicking up his sizeable cock with it. “There,” Ryan said, voice bright and chipper. “Just perfect, Michael…” 

One of Ryan’s hand held his cock steady, the other tugging Michael’s hip. “ _ Down _ ,” he said, and Michael obediently lowered himself, breath hitching when he felt that head at his entrance.

“Ngh -” Despite Michael’s attempt to remain quiet, a whine reverberated from within his throat as he continued to lower himself into Ryan’s lap, splitting himself open on the slick shaft, his own cock twitching in pleasure. 

“Now now,” Ryan practically purred, hands petting his sides, “don’t hide any noises, Michael - I want to hear  _ exactly  _ what I’m doing to you.” And with that, he tugged Michael’s hips, forcing more of his cock into Michael’s tight hole. - the human couldn’t help but let a broken cry wrench itself from him, panting up at the cave ceiling as a combination of Ryan’s hands and his own body weight slowly forced the remainder of the shaft into him. “Mm, so tight around me,” the naga cooed, fingers clenching around Michael. “You squeeze me so well.”

“P-Please,” Michael panted, shivering at all he was feeling. “I - I need -”

“Shh, you’re getting exactly what you need, Michael, don’t worry,” Ryan continued, voice low and calm. “This feels so good - this is the only way to get relief from my venom, you  _ need  _ this.” Ryan’s words immediately invaded his senses; he felt his gut clenching as he was filled further, his legs lowering him down at a faster pace, arms stretched behind him to better brace himself as he sank down onto Ryan’s lap, leaning against the monster’s chest with a sigh. He felt a thin sheen of sweat on his body from the exertion.

“L-Like this?” Michael asked, breathless. Ryan nosed the side of his neck, peering over his shoulder. 

“Good boy,  _ exactly  _ like this.” Michael shifted, moaning as he felt the renewed stretch of Ryan’s cock inside of him, the naga slowly rolling his hips up into him. “Mm, and to think you were trying to run away from me not two hours ago,” Ryan taunted, a hand sliding along Michael’s front, loosely wrapping around his flushed cock.

“A-Ah!” Michael thrust upwards into Ryan’s fist, only to be stopped with another hand on his chest, forcing him to lay against the naga. He couldn’t do much in the position except to rock his hips, first into Ryan’s hand, then back against his cock as he leisurely fucked into him. God, he couldn’t even ride Ryan like this, unable to control the tempo or the amount of thrusts. Instead he was more like the monster’s cocksleeve, desperate to come, but completely -

“Helpless,” Ryan murmured into his ear, making him shiver.

Michael had a thought, in the back of his head, that this whole situation should have made him feel… wrong, somehow, but he couldn’t say why. Couldn’t think much of anything, in fact, too distracted by the mindless waves of pleasure and satisfaction that were washing over his body. He could feel himself smiling out of contentment, even drooling as Ryan playfully squeezed his cock. “Oh,  _ fuck _ ...” 

Ryan slipped his hands around Michael’s hips again, forcing his body up before slamming him back onto his cock, sending it deeper into Michael than before. He cried out as Ryan continued to fuck him like that, “R-Ryan!” he groaned out, “Fuck,  _ please _ , Ryan.” The narrowed head of Ryan’s cock meant that the naga was pressing against his prostate on every other thrust, making him reflexively gasp and wriggle in pleasure as he was fucked, his own cock neglected for now.

“God, you’re still so fucking  _ tight _ ,” Ryan growled out, breathing labored, “I think I’m gonna keep you for a while longer. Until you’re properly stretched out, all my come leaking out of your cute hole.” Michael whimpered at the thought, panting as Ryan slowed his thrusts, and tugged Michael back to his lap, movements more relaxed once more. “Do you like the sound of that, Michael?”

“Yes, fuck yes,” he answered without thinking. “Ruin me for everyone else, please.” He could have screamed when Ryan’s hand wrapped around his aching cock again.

“I’m so close,” Ryan murmured, sharp teeth pressing marks against Michael’s neck. That shock of pain was enough to send Michael straight to the edge, and Ryan’s hand was pumping him relentlessly now, his hips rolling at a sure speed into him, filling him completely. His breath stuttered, he was tottering on the edge; something holding him back, and he desperately looked over his shoulder, staring right into Ryan’s bright, blue eyes...

“Come for me, Michael,” He heard it echoing around his head more than anything else, but he listened, mouth parting in a wordless scream as he came all over himself, inexplicable relief coursing through him. 

Even better, he heard Ryan grunt, the naga’s cock throbbing inside of him, filling him up completely. 

Michael leaned heavily against the naga’s chest, legs spread wide, breath coming out in wild pants. He could only imagine what he looked like; but he didn’t care. His whole body was thrumming, mind buzzing with white noise. Everything felt so - so  _ right,  _ in this moment.

Against his wishes, his eyes slipped shut, body going lax on top of the monster’s. He croaked out a small, “Thank you,” and as he drifted, swore he felt gentle fingers tracing his stomach, and an ever-cool hand petting through his hair…

 

-

 

Michael woke up some feet from the mouth of the cave, underwear and shirt back on, his jeans balled up in his lap. There was no Rya -  _ naga  _ in sight. Michael sat against the wall of the cave, assessing how he felt.

For one thing, he wasn’t processing the world through the haze of a lustful, hypnotic fog. He mentally rattled off a few facts - his name, birthday, Gavin’s name and birthday, his home address, the location of his current hotel, and what he was doing here. Or, what he had been attempting to do before he got… sidetracked.

The important thing was that he was alright, right? He gingerly got up, noting the pleasurable ache in the base of his spine, present but not unbearable. At least the snake monster was a  _ considerate  _ lover, hypno-eyes and aphrodisiac-laced venom aside. 

He shook out his jeans, wondering if he could put them on without taking his shoes off, when he saw a rounded object pop out of the creases of fabric and clatter onto the cave floor. Looking around to make sure the noise didn’t bring any more guests, he crouched down and picked up the stone -

Or, well, gem actually. A fist-sized sapphire, as a matter of fact. The same color as - he shook his head, and wrangled his pants on before heading outside.

Judging by the sun, it was late afternoon; Michael was starving, parched, and in need of a long sleep. He slowly walked towards a crowd of dense bushes against the exterior stone of the cave. As an afterthought, Michael dug around his pants pockets until he found his comm device, which he had stuffed there once the cave blocked Gavin’s signal. He turned it on, and wasn’t even finished putting it into his ear when he heard that familiar British accent nattering on. “Michael? Is that really you? You’re not dead or hurt or -”

“I’m fine, idiot. Got a little hung up in the caves,” he managed to say with a slight blush. Well, it’s not like Gavin could see him. “I’m totally fine.”

“A little hung up? You were gone half the day! Was about to go out there myself and have a look.”

“No you weren’t,” Michael groused. He heard Gavin laugh.

“No, I wasn’t. But I  _ was  _ worried. Now, you swear everything’s alright, right?” 

“I promise.”

“And you swear there’s nothing in the cave, right? I’d been hoping…”

Michael cast a glance back at the mouth of the cave, feeling the weight of the gem in his hand. “Actually, I think I might head back in there tomorrow or the day after... Just to reconfirm.” 

“...Alright then, if you’re sure. Heading back to the hotel now?”

“Yeah.” Michael began to leisurely stroll back to the motorbike he had hidden by some bushes, grateful that it was still there. He popped open the small compartment on the back, trading his helmet for a safe spot to put the jewel. “I’ll regroup with you tomorrow, see what I should do. You’re right - I was in there longer than I thought, and I’m tired.” 

“Huh - you sure you weren’t having some great big adventure down there?” 

“You kidding? You know how uneventful ninety-five percent of these hunts are, Gavin!” 

“Well, doesn’t hurt to  _ ask.  _ Contact me when you’re back so I know you’re safe, okay? Cheers.” The line went out, and Michael got settled on his bike, starting the engine and easily getting back onto the dirt road that led him into the village in the first place.

Yeah, a quiet night was exactly what Michael needed. But the next few days? Well. The best rewards never came easy. First thing tomorrow, Michael was finding a pet store. Maybe things would go even better for him if he brought Ryan a snack...


End file.
